Class holds North West regional launch and commits to giving working people across the UK a strong political voice

On the day of the Spending Review and at a time when the Coalition Government’s aggressive cuts are having a disproportionate effect on the lives of working people, Class’s North West launch, forming part of the TUC’s Austerity Uncovered tour, will argue that it is now more important than ever to ensure working people across the UK have a political voice.

Class is a new think tank established last year by Britain’s biggest unions to act as a centre for left policy debate. Originating in the labour movement, Class is working with a broad coalition of high profile academics, economists and experts to develop and advance alternative policies.

The event in Liverpool will include contributions from a panel of high quality speakers involved in Class including:
• Billy Hayes – General Secretary of the CWU
• Carolyn Jones – Director of the Institute of Employment Rights
• Lynn Collins – North West Regional Secretary of the TUC
• Sheila Coleman – Unite the Union Community Branch
• Paul McCarthy – North West and Irish GMB Regional Secretary
• Peter Middleman – North West Regional Secretary of PCS
• Professor David Whyte – Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool

Ahead of the event Tim Roache, President of Class, said:-

“To truly put the political agenda on the side of working people, we have to break out of the long-established tradition London-centric policy-making. It has been one of my express wishes that we take Class out of London and across the UK to ensure that working people have a chance to influence policy development and have their say on the issues that are important to them”.

“This is only the first step in Class’s long-term commitment to ensuring that working people from across the UK have a strong voice in the political arena.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. The Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) is a new think tank established in 2012 by Unite the Union, GMB and the Institute of Employment Rights to act as a centre for left debate and discussion and has the growing support of a number of trade Unions including ASLEF, CWU, GFTU, NUT, PCS, TSSA, and UCATT. Originating in the labour movement, Class is working with a broad coalition of supporters, academics and experts to develop and advance alternative policies for today. http://classonline.org.uk/about

On the day of the Spending Review and at a time when the Coalition Government’s aggressive cuts are having a disproportionate effect on the lives of working people, Class’s North West launch, forming part of the TUC’s Austerity Uncovered tour, will argue that it is now more important than ever to ensure working people across the UK have a political voice.

It is time that the political agenda was on the side of working people and that policy development branched outside of the Westminster bubble. That’s why Class, a new, high-profile think-tank co-founded by the GMB, Unite the Union and the Institute of Employment Rights, and backed by a growing number of trade unions, is holding a North West regional launch.

Class aims to promote policies to influence decision-makers on a wide-range of areas, such as inequality, welfare, housing, the NHS and employment, as well as pushing an economic agenda to counter the Coalition Government's programme of welfare cuts and its injustices.

Come along to our regional launch to find out more about what we do and join in the discussion.